News

By GREGORY ZELLER // A chunky seven-digit federal grant will help Hofstra University and the Northwell Health system pump professional nurses into the neighborhoods that need them most. The Hofstra-Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies has landed a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant earmarked specifically to “create a nursing pipeline to underserved communities,” according to a joint statement from the university and the health system. The $2.75 million grant,…

By GREGORY ZELLER // One of Long Island’s busiest biotechs has (literally) inked an exclusive security deal with a leading global penmaker. Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences this week announced a five-year agreement with German manufacturer Montblanc-Simplo GMHB, master of not only “luxury writing instruments,” according to the Hamburg-based company’s website, but a wide range of watches, jewelry, eyewear, leather goods and other personal (and personalized) products. Pens, however, will be the focus of the…

By GREGORY ZELLER // State officials are once again supercharging residential and commercial clean-generation energy technologies on Long Island. With Albany having already set parameters for energy-storage technologies – and committed $400 million to advancing said tech – Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that an additional $55 million will be made available over the next five years for cutting-edge energy-storage efforts specifically on Long Island, with the first $15 million available now. The funding – essentially,…

By GREGORY ZELLER // A blockbuster summer sequel will see Stony Brook University soar into space, once again. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected eight research teams to collaborate through the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, a national thinktank featuring dozens of scientific disciplines, all focused on the final frontier and human space exploration. Among them: Timothy Glotch, a professor in SBU’s Department of Geosciences, and his team of more than 60…

By GREGORY ZELLER // A progressive energy provider marking a decade of Long Island energy production has provided $25,000 in college scholarships to dozens of graduating Island high schoolers. A total of 28 seniors graduating this month from Bellport, Longwood Senior and Patchogue-Medford high schools – each with an eye on further science, engineering or environmental studies – benefited from the 12th year of the Caithness Long Island Energy Center Scholarship Program. The schools are…

By GREGORY ZELLER // From the bottom of the world comes Stony Brook University’s latest top scientist – a Big Data-driven ecologist with an unprecedented passion for penguins. Adélie penguins, to be precise, and other Antarctic penguin populations, whose migratory patterns and colony sizes have lots to say about the health of the Southern Ocean ecosystem – and the global effects of climate change. Such is the purview of Heather Lynch, an associate professor of…

By GREGORY ZELLER // An innovative pipeline program will funnel economically and socially disadvantaged collegians into the Zucker School of Medicine. Going by the zippy acronym ZPP, the Zucker School of Medicine Pipeline Program has named its first class of participants – eight “rising college sophomores,” each with an academic interest in healthcare and each facing difficult economic and social challenges, according to the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, which announced…

By GREGORY ZELLER // A civic-minded entrepreneur, a leading Long Island educator and a longtime champion of social-equality causes have been honored by the region’s most progressive civil rights group. Syosset-based ERASE Racism, which formed in 2001 to lead public-policy advocacy and regional initiatives promoting social justice, has saluted its 2019 award-winners, each responsible for promoting equity in education, housing and other critical social arenas. Jericho-based low-income housing developer Georgica Green Ventures earned the ERASE…

By GREGORY ZELLER // Add another rising Pace University faculty member to the roster at Adelphi University, which has plucked a Pace professor for the second time in a week. Just days after naming Xiao-lei Wang, acting dean of Pace University’s School of Education, as the new dean of its College of Education and Health Sciences, Adelphi on Monday announced Susan Dinan as the new dean of its Honors College. Dinan – who was a…

By GREGORY ZELLER // With projects all over the county and a bevy of happy homeowners moving into new digs, busy Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk is closing in on a major milestone. The independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International plans to complete its 200th house in September, an affordable home in Wyandanch that will rise via a “special three-week blitz build,” according to the Middle Island-based nonprofit. Habitat Suffolk Director of Development Les…

By GREGORY ZELLER // Two visionary Long Island leaders made the cut Wednesday, when digital employment hub Glassdoor named its top United States CEOs of 2019. Northwell Health Chief Executive Michael Dowling ranked 44th overall among national large-company CEOs – making him the country’s top-ranking healthcare/hospital CEO and the fifth-best head honcho in New York State, according to Glassdoor’s 2019 large-company list. Wayne Grossé, chief executive of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, placed No. 21 among…

By GREGORY ZELLER // More than $12.5 million in school-technology upgrades are coming to Long Island schools through the latest funding round of Albany’s Smart Schools investment plan. The Smart Schools Review Board on Monday approved nearly 100 projects designed to improve school security and “reimagine teaching and learning for the 21st century,” according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office – a chunky 13th funding round for the circa-2015, $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act. The…

By GREGORY ZELLER // With synthetic opioids increasingly implicated in the alarming number of drug-overdose deaths plaguing the nation, a stalwart Long Island biotech’s DNA-based tracking technology has received a major endorsement. The peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE has published a paper by Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences on the molecular tagging of pharmaceuticals – a next-gen supply-chain authenticator that Applied DNA considers unforgeable, inescapable and particularly useful in a world where counterfeit drugs are…

By GREGORY ZELLER // It’s all coming together for slightly nomadic nonprofit We Connect the Dots, which may have found a permanent home – and has definitely identified some promising partners on its STEAM-powered mission. The registered 501(c)3, intent on leveling the technological playing field for underprivileged students via extracurricular science, mathematics, engineering, art and math activities, is now occupying 2,500 square feet in Syosset, carved out of a larger commercial space swimming with children’s…

By GREGORY ZELLER // With more than 150 companies and 9,800-plus employees, the pharmaceutical/nutraceutical industry is already a Long Island cornerstone – and some major regional stakeholders want to see it grow. On Tuesday, the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency and the Workforce Development Institute officially introduced “Driving Suffolk County’s Innovation Economy: The Pharmaceutical/Nutraceutical Growth Factor,” a 48-page report detailing pharma/nutra’s impressive growth over the last decade and the unique obstacles the industry faces on…